The Falkland Islands Journal was first published in 1967. It was the brainchild of the then Colonial Secretary of the Falkland Islands (from 1963-1969) W.H. (“Tommy”) Thompson whose short foreword stated:
“I hope this issue will be the first of many. The idea behind the Journal is to promote interest in the Falkland Islands and their history. Editorial policy is to publish items of interest from the past and present. Politics do not come into it. If any reader takes exception to anything which is printed from the past they must resort to the grave to lay their blame: as to the present, the authors of all signed papers are alone responsible for opinions expressed in them. MSS., and letters will be gladly accepted, but with a budget which is less than even the proverbial shoestring, and difficulties of printing, no guarantee of publication or promise of payment can be given. W.H. Thompson.”
Mr Thompson later wrote, in an article in the 1999 issue (The Genesis of the Falkland Islands Journal : pp 1-2 )
“I was Colonial Secretary from 1963 until 1969 and during that time I spent many hours delving into the archives which were beautifully kept and stored in a room of the Secretariat. With the exception of six years during the 1920s, they were complete from 1841 onwards. The loss of those six years was due to a fire which caused great damage to the earlier Secretariat building. Fortunately they were unimportant years when nothing much occurred in the islands.
Please remember that we had no air service to or from the islands and our shipping was limited to direct sailings from the UK, of which there were very few, and by the Falkland Islands Company’s ship Darwin with ten voyages a year to and from Montevideo in Uruguay. In midwinter there was a six to eight week gap when she was away having her annual Lloyds inspection. It was during that long dull period that I spent much time getting into the archival material.
In 1965 I thought it would be a good idea to put some of the more interesting material into print for the benefit of interested people within the Colony. There were difficulties. Finance of course and the fact that Joe King the Government Printer was snowed under with work brought about by an increasing amount of legislation which was slow and tedious work in those days of hand type-stetting. (Monotype came three years later). However, by 1966 I wrote to all the farmers and other worthies asking for a promise of support which I asked for in the form of an advance order for copies at a price of 5/-each. The response was good and with the connivance of Joe King on cost cutting I was able to go ahead. Sir Cosmo Haskard, Governor at the time, gave his blessing “provided nothing gets charged to Government or the taxpayer” and the first issue was produced in early 1967.
I produced further issues in 1968 and 1969 – which I consider to be the best of my lot. Unfortunately my successor in office had no interest in the venture and it very nearly died. I was very sad.”
However, it did continue and the rest is history.
Tommy Thompson edited the first four issues. J.A. and J.I.C.B. Jones the 1971 and 1972 issues and an Editorial Committee from within the Islands the 1973 and 1974 issues. There seemed to have been a lack of interest in the Journal at the time. Fortunately, an eminent farmer, Executive Councillor and historian, Sydney Miller (1905-1992) took on the job of editor “for a year or so only to rescue it from its imminent demise” (his words to Jim McAdam). He ended up editing the Journal for 15 years and passed on (in 1990), to Jim McAdam a thriving and active Journal. Jim has been “in post” since 1990. All work on the Journal is voluntary and the editor is ably assisted by an editorial team (see full details below).
Major events in the life of the Journal have been the introduction of a glossy, colour cover (in 2000) coupled with a major expansion in size and content. A website was created in 2004 by Tom McAdam (www.falklandislandsjournal.org). It contains a full register of all articles published, contact details, details of back issues available, front covers and forthcoming issues. The Journal was officially linked to the Historic Dockyard Museum in Stanley in 2017 and the same year a commemorative stamp issue was released. A Memory Stick of all back issues till 2023) is available for purchase.
The Journal is particularly dedicated to encouraging schoolchildren in the Falklands in the study of their local history by publishing winners and highly commended entries of the “Alastair and Jane Cameron History Prizes”. The Journal team work closely with the National Archivist and the Director of the Museum and her staff.